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Thursday, March 10, 2016

It's time to send Trump to Republican Boot Camp

Who’d a thunk it? Trump
could win the nomination. Right now he
can’t win the election, not because Hillary or Bernie has anything more to
offer, but because it is really hard for the mainstream Republican Party to get
behind Trump. Clearly half of the party
wants someone else.

All of the candidates have pledged to support whomever wins
the party’s nomination but there is support and there is lukewarm support. Right now it is very hard for half of the
party to get behind Trump but he may be the party’s nominee.

What are the viable options?

The open convention will eventually produce a nominee. That does not mean that the party will get
behind that nominee. The nominee needs
the enthusiastic support of the party.

So what is the party to do?

It is time to listen to the Americans that are coming to the
Republican Party and to think out of the box.
It is time to consolidate, coordinate, and indoctrinate. Republicans must get the party behind the new
Donald Trump.

Who? What?

It is time to send Mr. Trump to Republican boot camp. He has the best chance of winning the party’s
nomination but isn’t really a Republican.
He has brought some new issues and new people into the party but he has
also alienated part of the party and the country.

Republican boot camp refines the best that Trump has and
discards the worst of the man’s traits.

Boldness—by all means that needs to be refined and pumped
up.

Arrogance—confidence is one thing, hubris and arrogance are
not traits that anyone wants in a president.

Deal Maker—for all of his faults, Mr. Trump will not want to
face four years of gridlock with congress and surely will be constitutionally
checked if he tries to circumvent the lawmakers by those detested executive
orders. Encourage him to bring on
everything he has as a deal maker.

Put downs—these need to go, especially for various ethnic
groups and the disabled, and yes—even the media. If you can’t handle the heat from the debate
moderator, you sure won’t fare well with Putin.
Personal, ethnic, and other demeaning quips have to go.

Immigration—let him build the wall if he has to, but he
needs to be more inclusive on the real solution. Not every Republican wants every illegal immigrant
run out of the country. Not every
Democrat wants an easy amnesty package.
The immigration solution for our nation of immigrants lies somewhere in
between for the immediate fix; then there must be a workable and enforceable
policy for going forward.

Commander in Chief—none of the candidates have ever been a
commanding officer or even had military service. The
nation has real enemies. Big talk for
campaign sound bites doesn’t kill the enemy.
Colorful metaphors do not send terrorists running for cover. Cavalier comments do not inspire victory. The nominee, and in this model Trump is
presumed as that person, needs to get better military counsel. Trump need to be under the tutelage of
General James Mattis for a week. The
retired general may summon as many assistants as he deems necessary, but the
campaign stops for a week in April just to get this most crucial part right. This is a time without speeches or
interviews. This is training.

Taxes—the other candidates put more effort into this. Let them synergize a little and come up with
the best of everything.

Debt—the other candidates put more effort into this. Synergize!

Obamacare—it is easy to bash it but before it is just wiped
off the face of the earth, there had better be something on the table that is
more than what it replaced. People
wanted it because what came before was not effective for most people. Some of these people were fooled into thinking
it was going to be something for nothing but enough were discontent with the
state of health care in our nation to elect representatives that enacted this
law. Republicans need to be the party
that addresses this issue with eyes wide open.
The founding fathers had wisdom and vision beyond anything the world has
known before, but health care was not even the vaguest of concepts when they
drafted what many in this party hold a sacred documents. Conservative principles with creative and
resourceful legislation that honors individual and state rights can still
address this issue. The party is running
out of time to bash Obama and Obamacare.
Once they are gone the question becomes, what do you have that
works? A new administration will soon
need to address the healthcare needs of the nation. The Democrats would say that healthcare is a
right. Just saying, no, it’s not is not a solution.
This is a big one and the individual bickering and vitriol among the
candidates needs to stop and post-Obamacare solutions for the nation need to be
ready to go.

Christian base—it doesn’t matter if the Pope thinks Trump is
a Christian or not, but it would go a long ways towards assuring this very
viable part of the party if he was more conversant about this faith. He needs to understand that being a tough guy
before your enemies is one thing but the command that Jesus gave to those who
follow him was to love one another. That
one needs to be evidenced more. Many
think that makes Christians wimps. Not
the case. We are the ones who speak the
truth in love to each other so we can grow in grace. We need to teach our presumptive candidate
how to do this. If necessary, I will
spend two days with him.

Efficacy—if Trump wins the presidency and the Democrats
control the legislature, we should not expect much to improve. The matter of the Republican nominee needs to
be settled on 16 March 2016. Unless
there is a major turning of the tide from the current trend, everyone needs to
get behind Mr. Trump and Mr. Trump needs to undergo a makeover. He needs to keep those things that are bringing
in new Republicans and get rid of those things that alienate and denigrate American. That is not who the Republican Party is. The efficacy—the ability to effect desired
change—comes only with a Republican majority in both houses. The party needs to get beyond executive
bickering and bolster bids for the legislature.

There are surely other areas but this needs to be 15 days in April so that by May every Republican is looking forward to a November victory and has a candidate that they can support. Paradigms shift. Who adjusts first and most effectively?

Establishment Republicans need to open their eyes to the
discontentment in doing the same thing over and over. That dog don’t hunt. Get the message. That’s why you can’t rack up enough votes to
win. Most didn’t see Trump coming. Then didn’t believe he would last this
long. Now he is a reality and likely the
Republican nominee.

The traditional model is that you become a Republican before
you become a Republican candidate. That
model is no longer in play. Trump will
very likely be the party’s nominee.

The question is, will he be a Republican candidate with a
bit of the wildcard in him or a wild card with just enough Republican seasoning
to get on the ticket?

Republicans can fight for the nomination to the bitter end
and get the latter, or rally and organize as Republicans have traditionally
done for decades and get behind the former.

It is time to get behind Donald Trump, hold a 15 day Republican
boot camp in April, and win the election.

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Ten Talents: A Play in 3 Acts

Many years ago, make that almost four decades ago, I wrote the unofficial school newspaper. Its name was The Biased Observer. As the name would indicate, it was more a look at events of the week through one set of eyes than any attempt to objectively report the news. The news was what old people watched. I was more concerned with issues closer to the heartbeat of humanity, such as how many times in one week was a high school cafeteria allowed to serve beans as the main course.

Through the years, I acquired some higher education, experience in many cultures, and some insight as to the workings of the mind. Today, I teach thinking skills and creativity among my other passions.

One thing that I have learned is that you just cannot look at something objectively. If someone says, let's look at this objectively, they mean let's look at this through my view of objectivity. We all perceive our surroundings differently. In parallel thinking, we separate the elements of thinking and focus on each of them separately and the product is a much more objective (and considerably more effective) examination of a topic or issue. Even with these specific tools, we never truly get to objectivity. Parallel Thinking enables us to broaden our base of objectivity, but we should realize that objectivity cannot be fully obtained. When I first used The Biased Observer as a title for my periodic accounts of the world, its purpose was to relieve me from any responsibility to apply critical examination to any of the topics I wanted to discuss.

I'll revive the title in this column as a realization that no matter how much objective effort is applied to a topic, it will always retain much of the bias of its author. But much like variety, the author's bias can be the spice of life.

This column will focus on a variety of topics, each seasoned with an assortment of spices. Its intent is to inspire, provoke, and occasional provide some relief from the issues of the week. I think you will enjoy it, but then again, I am a little biased.

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About Me

Tom Spence is the pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Burns Flat, Oklahoma. He is a retired Marine Corps officer, published author, and occasionally catches a shot of something that just says Oklahoma.